Born March 19, 1848

Monmouth, Illinois

Died January 13, 1929

Los Angeles, California

Lawman, gambler

Wyatt Earp. (The Corbis Corporation. Reproduced by permission.)

"He had killed only when he saw no other choice, and his victims had been criminals who deserved bullets, not sympathy. He believed, as strongly as a man can believe, that he had done everything he could to avoid killing."

Carl R. Green and William R. Sanford in Wyatt Earp

Wyatt Earp was one of the legendary lawmen of the Old West. Though he was a sheriff or marshal in several western towns, he is best known for his role in the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. Like many western heroes and villains, Earp's life has become the stuff of myth, and has been distorted and misreported so frequently that it is difficult to sort out truth from falsehood. It is clear...